Intermediate guide for adjacent vertical and horizontal bar-mill stands



W. J. BARR ETAL INTERMEDIATE GUIDE FOR ADJACENT VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL BAR-MILL STANDS Filed April 12, 1961 May 12, 1964 United States Patent 3,132,546 INTERMEDIATE GUIDE FOR ADJACENT VERTI- CAL AND HORIZONTAL BAR-MILL STANDS William J. Barr, Duquesne Township, Allegheny County,

and Frank C. Wassel, West Mifllin Township, Allegheny County, Pa., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 12, 1961, Ser. No. 102,562 1 Claim. (Cl. 80-51) This invention relates to continuous rolling mills and, more particularly, to a guide for installation intermediate adjacent vertical-roll and horizontal-roll stands of a barand-billet mill.

A continuous bar-and-billet mill of the latest type usually includes in succession a vertical-roll stand and a horizontal-roll stand and this pair may be duplicated once or twice (Making Shaping and Treating of Steel, 7th ed., pp. 485-491). While each stand usually is provided with entrance and delivery guides, it is desirable to control the workpiece between stands by an intermediate guide or guide extension. One form of known intermediate guide was mounted on the horizontal-roll stand and had a plurality of guide passages, one for each of the several grooves or passes formed in the horizontal rolls. Difiiculty was experienced with such guide, however, because of jam ming or cobbling of the workpiece, to the extent that production of the mill was seriously curtailed.

We have invented an improved intermediate guide which fully overcomes the aforementioned diificulty. Our guide is a single trough extending between the vertical-roll stand and the horizontal-roll stand. It has one end fixed to a beam extending between the housings of the vertical-roll stand at the side thereof adjacent the horizontal-roll stand. A slide plate is mounted on the housings of the horizontal-roll mill at the side thereof adjacent the vertical-roll mill and the other end of said trough has sliding bearing on said plate. Thus, when the horizontal-roll mill is adjusted laterally to bring a different pair of grooves into the pass line, the guide trough remains stationary and is therefore always in properly alined position. The adjustment of the rolls of the vertical-roll stand does not affect the position of the intermediate guide in any way.

A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description and explanation which refer to the accompanying drawings illustrating the present preferred embodiment. In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a horizontal section through adjacent vertical-roll and horizontal-roll stands, with parts omitted, showing our improved guide in plan therebetween; and

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section, taken along the plane of line II-II of FIGURE 1, showing our guide in elevation.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, a vertical-roll stand 10 and a horizontal-roll stand 11 are arranged in succession along a common pass line 12. Stand 10 may be of the general construction of that shown in Hill et al. Patent No. 2,583,844 but the details have not been fully illustrated since they are not pertinent to the present invention. It suflices to state that stand 10 comprises vertical housings 13 having horizontal housings 14 vertically adjustable therein. Vertical rolls 15 are journaled in chocks (not shown) carried by housings 14. Entry guides 16 for rolls 15 are mounted on housings 13 and delivery guides 17 on housings 14. Stand 11 comprises housings 18 and horizontal rolls 19 are journaled in chocks (not shown) carried thereby. Entry guides 20 and delivery guides 21 for rolls 19 are mounted on housings 18.

Rolls 15 have a plurality of pairs of matching grooves which may be selectively brought into alinement with pass line 12. Rolls 19 are similarly grooved. In the case of rolls 15, this adjustment is elfected by vertical adjust ment of housings 14 in housings 13. In the case of rolls 19, groove selection is accomplished by laterally shifting the stand 11 as a unit transversely of line 12 along supporting rails 22.

The stand construction and arrangement described above are conventional. It now remains to describe our novel intermediate guide and explain its cooperation with stands 10 and 11.

Our guide is indicated generally at 23. As there shown it is a trough comprising a bottom plate 24 on which are secured upstanding side walls 25 spaced on opposite sides of pass line 12. The walls have base flanges 26 and bolts 27 extend therethrough and through slots 28 in plate 24, permitting lateral adjustment of the walls. The end of plate 24 adjacent stand 10 rests on and is fixed to a beam 29 extending between housings 13. The ends of the beam, which is in the form of a round bar, are removably seated in sockets 30 secured to the inner faces of the housings.

A slide bar 31 is mounted on lugs 32 projecting from the structure of entry guides 20. A shim strip 33 is secured on top of bar 31 and the end of bottom plate 24 adjacent the horizontal-roll stand has sliding bearing thereon. As shown in FIGURE 1, the center line of plate 24 is vertically alined with pass line 12. Thus side walls 25 may be positioned thereon so as to guide a workpiece delivered from stand 10 accurately into the entry guide 20 of stand 11. As stated, the vertical adjustment of rolls 15 by raising or lowering housings 14, has no effect on guide 23. When stand 11 is adjusted transversely of pass line 12, guide 23 remains unmoved by virtue of being secured at one end to beam 29 and slidably supported at the other on bar 31. Once the guide has been properly set, therefore, it remains fixed regardless of changes in the adjustment of housings 14 and stand 11.

Experience has shown that a single trough mounted as an intermediate guide according to our invention fully overcomes the difficulties attendant upon the use of prior intermediate guides. Our guide, furthermore, is simple in construction and, as stated, when once set, requires no further attention.

Although we have disclosed herein the preferred embodiment of our invention, we intend to cover as well any change or modification therein which may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

In a rolling mill, a pair of roll stands spaced apart along a common pass line, each comprising spaced housings and cooperating grooved rolls journaled therein, the rolls of one stand being vertical and the rolls of the other horizontal, and means supporting the horizontal roll stand for adjustment normal to said line, the combination therewith of a beam extending between the housings of the vertical-roll stand on the side adjacent the horizontal-roll stand, a guide trough extending between said stands having one end fixed to said beam, and a horizontal bar extending between the housings of the horizontal-roll stand on the side thereof adjacent said vertical-roll stand, the other end of said trough being slidable on said bar, and

free of attachment thereto whereby said trough remains 287,008

fixed relative to said line when said horizontal-r011 stand 323100 is moved transversely thereof causing like movement of 351,841

said bar. 399,726

References Cited in the file of this patent 5 706,993

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,918,968

198,667 Nevegold Dec. 25, 1877 Daniels Oct. 23, 1883 Baker July 28, 1885 Lenox Novf2T1886 Bunsen Mar. 19, 1889 Nighman Aug. 12, 1902 Keeney et a1. July 18, 1933 Carroll July 31, 1934 

